panics markets lead america's plunge off the fiscal cliff while the republicans and democrats. called. the number of dead in the moscow plane crash landing rises to five and investigators became planes taking probe into the accident we take you step by step through the sequence of events. plus from painful hysterics in europe and up people across the arab world the rise of political awareness in russia as the world turns a new page to twenty. recaptures all the twists and turns of the outgoing year.

good morning good to have you company you're watching r.t. live from moscow. now the united states has all but begun its plunge off the fiscal cliff at least on the markets and with the last minute talks between republicans and democrats falling apart yet again america could be in for a hard landing wall street is in full retreat seeing five straight days of sell off this panicky investors jump ship on new year's day six hundred billion dollars worth of tax hikes and federal cuts are slated to come into force in america and a deal to avert that is still no way in sight though as our. reports the makings of this crisis were there but want to see. the u.s. congress created this cliff situation when they failed to agree on a budget that would help the country reduce its deficit and its you mongers debt

and what they did was what they usually do they put off those important decisions until a certain deadline that deadline is now so they came up with this scary word cliff to create lots of drama around what should be the ordinary maybe somewhat boring working process of any congress or parliament that is to agree on a budget the need to deadlines so the cliff which actually describes the mode in which the congress is working their inability to make decisions until the very very last minute the cliff that u.s. lawmakers have artificially created could become very real for the american people the vast majority of them over one thousand government programs would be cut it would hit the unemployed very hard they would stop getting unemployment benefits there would be other automatic cuts and tax hikes that would mostly affect those who are financially insecure but everyone knows even if the lawmakers don't need the january first headline they can pass measures retroactively and at the end of

the day they will decide something but congress seems to love the drama of the whole cliff situation they have all the attention in the world and literally the whole world the media of course help them hype it up. it was the countdown they started two months ago and while politicians here are enjoying all that attention turning last minute scoring political points the hype around the scary word cliff is already hurting the economy experts say it's affecting business and consumer confidence if wall street is any indicator stocks have been falling for a fifth straight day on friday they called it a fiscal cliff slide other markets are reaching signals uncertainty coming from the u.s. oil prices have soared in the asian markets ahead of a last minute effort in washington to reach a deal on fiscal cliff that's what you read in the news so this whole charade in washington could have implications on many levels and the fiscal cliff which some

call a product of u.s. lawmakers imagination could become a self-fulfilling prophecy well charlie mcgrath found of wide awake says it is ironic that america's main parties have difficulty reaching a deal on policies to aid the nation's poor but had little trouble agreeing on the defense budget. when the cameras are own you know if they're on the red team there i mean you're out there saying it's the welfare of all it's the people on food stamps or the people in extended unemployment benefits if they're on the blue team they're coming out and trying to get their base fired up that it's all about corporate interests and this is why we can't come up with video but isn't it me when the cameras are off and it's time to pass a trillion dollar nearly trillion dollar defense bill they have no problem whatsoever coming to coming together and holding hands with that kind of a deal together since two thousand and one namely we've been governing this nation by proxy the world by crisis and it doesn't matter who gets or who's good who gets

left by the wayside as long as a special interest is served so long as it's always under the shadow of a crisis they will act on the when it has to do with acting in behalf of the people of this nation it seems like the people always take a backseat. syrian rebels press on with the offensive in the north of the country they reportedly take over north from the station after days of intense fighting amid calls for dialogue from russia and the international peace. this is trying to find a way through a complex tax system wasn't enough in the u.k. millions have been paying through the nose for telephone service is to help them navigate it that's coming up later. five people are dead and three others are still fighting for their lives in hospital is the result of a red wings passion plane crash landing one of moscow's busiest ports scattering debris across a major highway experts cite bad weather brake system failure or simply pilot error

could have led to the tragedy. look at how events unfolded the twenty ninth of december the last working day of two thousand and twelve in russia. business is. forgotten until the next year families. jump into their cars and escape the busy capital biggies go highway heads to the west where most of the luxuries they country houses are located traffic jams or karma but this time of the day this time of the year but one of the road is almost there. passengers come out of the car to see what the sound was a big sack to see anything but not this.

just minutes before that and simpler to know for what number ninety six i think is when the little i've told you the first times it's unsuccessful the plane makes a wrong over the airport and begins to send in for a second time when they sign the plane touches down but can stall the experienced crew at that moment very slightly knows already they will not make it the jets reaches the end of the runway runs into the fans but still continues moving it finally stops after overrunning the asteroid by four hundred meters the plane breaks into three pawson tail is lying over the whole year the road people can easily see its number or a stick for four seven the middle paul just bog misses away the cockpit already partially damaged after the crash with a science falls right at the edge of the highway a miracle indeed the road is empty at that time this is a ten lane highway the wreckage is only on one of the lanes traffic continues on at

least three here even after the tragedy joyce fashion by slowing down to see what happens to lotus and made rainfall for a while on the road is a very road they usually drive every friday and everybody sings as that moment was if i'd have call minutes earlier or was eve i'd have been on that airplane people come out of their cars and try to help out those in the cockpit however the sad. weather conditions technical failure and pilot error are among investigators main causes of the incident was most likely a combination of reasons behind a fatal crash however a plane hitting. easy highway in one of europe's biggest cities could have much more devastating trail of destruction there wasn't enough log for everyone on that saturday evening marry for national party more school region. and if you want more

expert opinion on what caused the crash or more on the plane itself head to r.t. dot com all that much more is lined up for you there the. fighting between syrian government troops and opposition forces has intensified with new clashes in the north of the country the rebels have also reportedly captured an all pumping stations as the international envoy for pace in syria reiterated that dialogue is the only way out of the crisis this was fully supported by russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov as the to discuss the matter in moscow dr mohammed the editor in chief of the syria trust syria tribunals online magazine believes the rebels are preparing the ground for foreign intervention. you're all off or opposition to the michelle will never win over the syrian army they were established to create chaos and the fear of the country for what it is the reaction now for intervention is not happening and we're not quite relieved that we should come up with him but they are trying to leave because if you go to the syrian army

and puts you in government what should be mixed is a wide dialogue between all three and worth everything all the superpowers in the world to look through the through to pressure of the opposition for dialogue just leaning more and more advanced or this can lead to violence the need for for a real where there is no pressure to prevent as an end to the army to leave their work everything. we would be able to control the situation and after that they have to understand that there is no solution with dialogue and with the who would give them everything. a us ambassador with a price on his head al qaeda in yemen promises kilograms of gold for the life of america is a mystery to that country that's online for you plus overweight medics in the u.k. should set a good example having surgery and stop eating junk food that's what

a new official report is expected to suggest read more about it on r.t. dot com. now there are lots of things you might want to spend your hard earned cash on this holiday season family presents friends for example probably filling your tax return isn't among them but millions of people in britain are doing just that as official telephone helpline charge astronomic feed so people can put money in the state coffers. your annual tax return of her says that many adults find utterly daunting and perplexing luckily for the british public the tax man has a whole of way of telephone helplines to help and advise people on how to fill in the piles of forms needed for it getting through to someone might be a bit of

a problem though britain is spending watchdog says that last year some twenty million phone calls went on answered by the government tax office and of those lucky enough to get through between the months of april and september over six million people had to wait for over ten minutes just to get an answer from someone and i've decided to give him revenue and customs premium priced phone line a call to find out how long it would take me to get through to them i've spent over three and a half minutes waiting for someone to pick up the phone this is but it's a premium rate number which means that i've already spent at least two pounds talking to you is there any sort of refunds that you guys provide for discount old customers. what's an average toy for people to wait to get an

answer. last year customers spent an estimated thirty three million pounds in call charges just waiting to get through to somebody at the tax department experiencing what critics call a shameful level of service him revenue and customs have released a statement saying that they've lowered the cost of calls to one of their premium phone lines the most popular one they also say that they're aware that they weren't able to deliver the standard of service that they're committed to in the past however they're now answering over ninety percent of the calls that are made to them but ultimately critics say that it's the complicated u.k. tax code that spans over seventeen thousand pages that british citizens find it so hard to get their head around and it's the telephone providers that are responsible for the helplines that it crashing in when all the tax confusion. to northern ireland where an attempt to kill a policeman via detonating

a bomb under his car has been thwarted offices notice the device not far from the houses of parliament before calling in the disposal squad people were evacuated from a nearby church during the operation programme loyalists have been writing in belfast over the last two weeks after the union jack flag was taken down nightside the government building. two people have died and seven others are injured after a devastating landslide covered a highway in southwest colombia it's thought the death toll could rise as several cars are still trapped under the earth some three hundred emergency services personnel are on the scene with heavy machinery and rescue dogs. the president of venezuela hugo chavez has suffered another health complication really related to a cancer operation he underwent earlier this month he developed a racial bigotry infection after the surgery and is currently in a hospital in the cuban capital have the socialist president was expected to be

sworn in for a third term on january tenth. the bitter fallout from the arab spring together with the desperate street battles and debt hit europe plus heated presidential races both in russia and the u.s. as the new year is knocking at the door we look back at the uneasy legacy of twenty twelve. by now what critics have to point it while has reached its and along with the ny encounter. but it looked more like this. a decade of war is a. good year for a new. well we're still here and when it comes down to it the world not only didn't end but very little changed in twenty twelve we

have the same challenges facing the globe the same conflicts preventing peace the same policies hampering solutions and many of the same people in power as we come into twenty thirteen so what will twenty twelve be remembered for let's take a look back. at some in gaza their world did and when israel launched a short but deadly campaign in response to rockets fired by hamas after one of their leaders was assassinated u.s. solidly backed israel but critics claim the use of disproportionate force has become too common a practice for your truly defense force journalist also being targeted and children becoming casualties it has the same policy if you like the united states or the gaza collateral damage that it's happy to enjoy dozens of palestinian men women and children as long as they can kill one person who money to help fire a rocket into israel shortly after a cease fire palestine celebrated gaining un nonmember status but it's still

a long way from statehood as is the region from a peaceful two state solution israel and palestine this was conflict continues to rage in neighboring syria you know that russia trying to possibly stay running his country. he has to go assad must go. up to the demands and predictions that syria's president would fall in twenty trials went on for fulfill his sat down for an exclusive interview with r t well into the year insisting he would not give up as the push for regime change continued in terror reigned in his country i'm not popular than me but with the with for twenty other countries i'm sick and i mean. i made in syria and i have to revisit him but it's going to be deemed everything from civil war to sectarian fighting to terrorism to genocide syria stay the center of a media war through out twenty twelve with unconfirmed atrocities on both sides

haunting the web and only one side taking the brunt of the blame for assad is crazy he's a brutal dictator reese killing his own people this is the same narrative that we heard about gadhafi. but we didn't hear much about libya in two thousand and twelve on most networks or from western officials not until the aftermath of regime change there and the terror that ensued went too far the u.s. ambassador and embassy staff were killed in benghazi in september the most significant event two thousand and twelve is the failure of nato to follow up on its own its libyan momentum to create a forced regime change through proxy. mercenaries in syria and the fact that russia and china and iran stood firm on. the entire time table that nato at that in mind to run this you stabilization and now the

entire arab spring scenario is. it's not disintegrate it's becoming a nightmare one that spread to western allies in the region like bahrain where mass protests to arrest and even death haven't provoked much global media coverage or any push for democracy. instead provocations like the film the innocence of a muslim made headlines and incited outrage across the arab world funded in the u.s. and considered highly offensive to islam the movie didn't go over well in states now run by islamist after post revolution polls in egypt and tunisia. u.s. embassies were left in shambles us plaques burned and freedom of speech was back on the debate tonight the film was banned in some countries like russia and defended by others like the states as a protected light of expression a right not awarded to whistleblowers like julian assange and who had

a busy year and here he was granted political asylum by ecuador after being released on bail while they're waiting a british court's decision on his extradition to sweden for most of twenty twelve assigned to remain under house arrest but still managed to find a way to leave that can change the world tomorrow his groundbreaking exclusive interview show premiered on r t one is on sat down with guests shunned by the mainstream media like has the last house on the throne and internet freedom on his visit to the site where banks the future of the internet i think it's no journalist with the salt in the world working today has not used a wiki leaks cable whether it be at the lowest level of covering their local health center to the idea of schools like education let alone geopolitics still many journalists slammed the songes work on r t and he continues to be a man the west and mainstream media love to hate while he remains holed up at the

ecuadorian embassy in london fearing u.k. officials will grab him the moment he steps outside. protests ripped across europe in two thousand and twelve as the euro crisis worsened leaving many no choice but to go out onto the streets where so many people are becoming desperate people a dog. i think angrier and angrier spain had millions on the street at a time demanding the government stop cuts and demos continued in greece who got a forty four billion euro bailout masses were met with heavy handed policing in most countries across the e.u. which was awarded a nobel peace prize in twenty trials. they ultimately if there are too many protests won't even be able to afford the policemen on the streets and therefore we could actually end up not so much with a violent reaction from government but there's actually a danger of an arche because government itself may break down but it is. not the

case in the us where the occupy movement lost momentum of this year corporate back media and authorities managed to dull demonstrations demanding economic equality and responsibility is one of a party there where you know you wait for occupy to expand from its needs and from that. you know usually you write it by the elites as a bunch of anarchist story or students who know how to see better to do it is to organize themselves politically something the group is promising and twenty thirteen with some predicting the old ws movement might have better luck in europe . russia saw protests this year leading up to and after vladimir putin was elected for a third time as president but not nearly as big as what we saw at the end of twenty young levon i think the demonstrations in russia what motivated by frustration the demonstrators had the care political goal which was to discredit the of the reputation of president putin but he got to russia knowing that those plans could

be continued russian going to win the election they had no choice they had no possibility of beating them in an election so they tried to their strategy was instead to discredit at least in the eyes of the west just before putin's inauguration a protest in central moscow turned violent for the first time since the. an opposition movement began rally against the arrests were made in both protesters and police reported injuries several demonstrators face court hearings on charges of inciting mass public disorder and a dozen more trials will carry on in the new year with the opposition claiming this is all part of a kremlin clamp down on their movement but putin's reelection and protests didn't get nearly as much attention as this. thing and people need to deal with the riots rocked riot on the altar of christ the savior and the scandal that followed made world headlines took over the blog a sphere and had celebrities like madonna defending them for the russian.

there is no defense in this case it's simple lawyers uncorking out on ali feel they're working towards the brand in order to capitalize on it in the future and it's worked some of the groups girls got two years in jail for the stunt which was criticized by the west as too harsh the story remained in the headlines for weeks on end leaving little room for stories like this. thank you very much the u.s. presidential candidate jill stein and her running mate arrested for protesting outside a debate for top party only candidates obama and romney the american system is designed to eliminate political opposition like some of the. you know dictatorships that we criticize the debate makes a mockery of our democracy despite being on the ballot in a not states to technically win stine and other candidates were not allowed to

debate and got almost no coverage in the lead up to elections i'm due west networks instead third party candidates only chance to debate live on television here was for marty's washington studio i think our founding fathers would be spinning if in their graves if they could see this. in line with holes and projections obama won the election but his work is cut out for him along with other world leaders to be here to come a rough economy growing discontent and conflicts either standing still or raging wild and he's now a party. so what is grip your attention this year why don't you tell us via twitter hash tag your messages with the recall and share your highlights of the day. the next it's a piece of l. and his guest the slug it out in the latest cross talk debate that after a short break.

choose your language. of choice because of the influential conversational some of. us choose to use the concentric circles that choose to define us that immigrate to . choose the stories that impact your life choose me access to your offer to. join me on a journey to the heart of the family to a place is hidden from the tourist you're going to meet some real crime insiders although they may not be the usual news makers you see on t.v. .

look. good. morning. something. law is beneath. thousands of meters of. control. the law. that is a use for many. but dangerous even to those who keep it at a distance. he

survived war atrocities. to make a cycle of this ocean. has changed his life and the world around him. by giving up. hope. and loves to so many children. nikolai the american worker on the tape. a mission in free cretaceous free comes for charges free. range humans free. three stooges free.

download free broadcast quality video for your media projects and free media down to r.t. dot com. and welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle two thousand and twelve is about to end and what a year it was the global economy remains weak the arab spring rages on europe is dealing with painful austerity extreme weather had itself felt and obama reelected and there was no shortage of conflicts tragedies and misery around the world. to cross talk two thousand and twelve as it was i'm joined by john glaser in washington he's an assistant editor and blogger for antiwar dot com and so.